Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding How British and Indonesian Extremists Disengage and Why They Don't

Abstract

This article compares how individuals from two different Salafi-jihadi groups disengage from high-risk activism and political violence. Drawing on original interviews, we explore the "push" and "pull" factors that influence our respondents' decisions to leave. We identify numerous push-and-pull factors that are consistent with previous research, including disagreements with group leaders over strategy and practices and educational and employment opportunities. We also contribute to existing research by including "persistent activists" in our sample who did not disengage. Surprisingly, these respondents remained in their groups despite experiencing some of the same push-and-pull factors as those who left. Including this variation allows us to separate necessary but insufficient conditions of disengagement from factors that exert a more profound impact. We highlight the influence of one key factor-and its absence-in our discussion: alternative social networks with supportive outsiders for those who left and the lack of such meaningful relationships for those who remained. We conclude by discussing the implications of our research for countering violent extremism.

“IS Drew This Dream Picture—Like Floating on a Pink Cloud”: Danish Returnees’ Entry into and Exit from Salafi-Jihadism through Nurtured and Fractured Fantasies

“…Hjelt (2020) [22] finds that the above-mentioned pull factors in combination with engagement in prevention programs and formal mentoring and supportive family and friends reinforce the Danish foreign fighter returnees' exit pathways and facilitate reintegration. The latter is supported by other, non-Danish scholars [74] (Kenney and Hwang 2021). Barrelle (2015:133) [21] finds that "genuine engagement in mainstream society after leaving [extremism] is the key to enabling individuals to move on with their lives".…”

“…Hjelt (2020:229) [22] finds that both push factors (e.g., unfulfilled expectations and loss of faith in the religio-political ideology) and pull factors (e.g., positive interactions with moderate "outsiders", opportunities for education and employment and aspirations in life) were significant for the exit of radicals from the Salafi-jihadist milieu. Similar push and pull factors were found to be influential to disengagement among Indonesian and British extremists [74] (Kenney and Hwang 2021). Barrelle (2015) [21] conducted interviews with 22 former extremists, including jihadists, finding 15 disengagement themes that cluster into five domains: "'Social Relations', 'Coping', 'Identity', 'Ideology' and 'Action Orientation'" (p. 133).…”

PROTOCOL: Case management interventions seeking to counter radicalisation to violence: A systematic review of tools and approaches

“…Extremist peers or family members (Kenney & Chernov Hwang, 2021); Poor familial relationships or household dysfunction (Gill et al, 2021) Factors found in the immediate environment…”